The Story of Us
by whataslore
Summary: Two youngsters meet, fall in love, and are faced with every day challenges trying to keep their love alive. Based on real events.
1. Social Networking

**Author's Note: **So, this story isn't really going to be that exciting, you won't chew off all your fingernails reading it. But it is based on true events. As sappy as this is going to sound to most of you, this story is based on my relationship with my boyfriend, and I'm replacing myself and my boyfriend with two of my all-time favorite video game characters, Sora and Kairi. It's just kind of a way for me to blow off steam, and if you guys like it, that's cool. :D

**Warning: **This story will be lots of fluff, lots of drama, but there WILL be sexual content, occasionally graphic, and there will be strong language. If either of those makes you feel uncomfortable, you may want to exit now.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the characters of Kingdom Hearts, and I don't pretend to.

**Chapter One: Social Networking**

It was early May, the year 2010. The day was nice. It was sunny, beautiful, and the smell of blooming flowers permeated the air. It was the type of day that people skip school and work to appreciate. However, there was one seventeen-year-old girl, by the name of Kairi, who had no interest in being outside adoring this new spring weather. No, she was much too busy doing something else.

She was on her laptop, visiting the newest social networking site she had come across. It wasn't a spectacular website. It was poorly put together and most of the advertisements on it led to websites that were blocked by antivirus for malware. The website borrowed a lot of features of Facebook and MySpace, making it a copycat of both, yet people still flocked to it, desperate for any site that would help them meet new people.

Kairi was not on this website to meet new people. She had recently discovered that it was quite easy to say things over the internet to piss people off; things that she didn't even believe were true or really feel. For some reason, it was funny. It was hilarious to see people take something someone they didn't even know said online and make such a big deal out of it.

This website was a prime place for Kairi to accomplish these acts of "trolling". It had a question and answer system, where men on the website could ask her questions and she could respond to them publicly, for the entire website to see. She loved writing bitchy, sarcastic responses to the guys asking her perverted questions and seeing the response that came from the other website locals.

Nope, Kairi had no intention of ever meeting anyone on this website.

On this particular day, she was enjoying her new hobby, giggling at the frustrated responses of the men she embarrassed publicly.

**Q: **_Can I see your tits?_

**A: **_Look at you, being all brave behind the safety of your computer screen. I dare you to walk up to some random girl in the street and ask that._

Kairi smirked as she clicked "Submit". That wasn't her best work, but she knew that at least several thousand other girls were about to see what a pig that guy was.

Shortly after, her laptop dinged, and she saw a new message had appeared in her inbox. She snickered, knowing that she had gotten the job done and that this was the guy, writing her in private to tell her she was a bitch and would never get a man. That was how most of them reacted.

She was disappointed to see, when she opened her inbox, that the message was not from the guy she had just humiliated. It was a different user, one she had never terrorized. She had no interest in messages sent from random users. They were all guys looking to date, and that wasn't her purpose on this site. She read the message anyway, because she always did.

_Hey! You live super close to me!_

Lame. She eyeballed the guys' username. _Jefferson Steelflex._ LAME. The guy was probably a gigantic douchebag. She was about to click out of the message when she noticed the guy's picture. It was a mirror pic, taken with a flip cellphone with a crappy camera, but _damn_.

Lord have mercy, he was an attractive guy. He had spiky chocolate brown hair, and eyes as blue as the deepest ocean. His skin was beautiful too, not too pale, not too tan. It was a perfect mix.

Kairi was a little taken aback. Hot guys messaged her all the time, but she had never been this drawn to their pictures. There was something about this one. Something different. She took a deep breath, and decided to jump out of her comfort zone a little. What could a little small talk with a hot guy do? Nothing bad, that's for sure. She began to type.

_Where do you live?_

It took him 45 seconds to respond. He was quick.

_On the other side of the island. It's like a 10 minute drive. Anyway, I messaged you because I saw that question you answered. It was sweet. That guy totally deserved it._

Kairi's heart pounded. This was very weird. Why was she having this intense reaction to this guy wanting to talk to her and thinking she was awesome? She received messages all the time telling her how awesome her answers to her questions were and she didn't care.

_BTW, I'm Kairi. What should I call you? Jefferson? Jeff? Flex?_

Crazily enough, she was actually worried that he would decide she was boring and stop talking to her. But sure enough, less than two minutes later got her a response.

_Lol. My name is Sora. Stupid username, I know, but I only made this account because my friend uses this site and I wanted to check it out and I couldn't think of anything else. This site is stupid, though, do you have an email you wouldn't mind sharing with me so I can chat with you later?_

Kairi choked back a scream of delight, and was once again horrified by her reaction. What the hell? She wasn't supposed to like a guy in the internet. Her ideal boyfriend was going to sweep her off her feet in person someday.

_Yeah, sure. kairimarie ._

Not a moment too soon, her Yahoo messenger window dinged, and an IM window popped up, clearly from none other than Sora.

**Chickenwingz: **Hi, it's Sora. Just wanted to get you added and let ya know who I am. I got some stuff to take care of but I'll hit ya up later. :P

Kairi was a little disappointed. She had only exchanged a few words with this guy so far, but she knew, somehow, that she could have talked with him all day long.

She did wait, all day long. She left her laptop on while she began her daily chores, while she gabbed on the phone with her best friend, Naminé, about how excited they were to graduate high school next week, while she caught up on her favorite TV shows. Then finally, at around 9 p.m, almost 8 hours after the original conversation took place, her Yahoo messenger dinged. Kairi scrambled to her computer to see what Sora had to say.

**Chickenwingz: **Heeyyy.

**KairiMarie: **Hi!

**Chickenwingz: **Sup?

**KairiMarie: **Trying to decide what to do to entertain myself for the rest of the night.

**Chickenwingz: **Well you could talk to me :P

**KairiMarie: **Of course! I meant on the side.

**Chickenwingz: **Well, how about you tell me a little about yourself, and I'll tell you a little about myself?

**KairiMarie: **Okay. I'm 17, senior in high school. My last day of school was yesterday, and I graduate next week. I'm going to attend community college in the fall. I want to go into the Human Service program, look into psychology or social work for a career. I'm single, don't have much of a life outside the computer, love animals and video games and books. Now you.

**Chickenwingz: **Interesting. I'm 18, and I'm also graduating next week :P You go to the high school on your side right? I'd know if I saw you at my school. Our graduation is like two days after yours. Anyway, I'm going to community college too, I'll be going into nursing. I enjoy videogames and I play guitar. I have a band.

**KairiMarie: **Cool! What's it called?

**Chickenwingz: **Ynitsed.

**KairiMarie: **:S

**Chickenwingz: **Lol. "Destiny" backwards.

**KairiMarie: **Oh! I guess that makes sense, lol. So, what are you doing?

**Chickenwingz: **I'm chilling in bed with some music playing, keep getting distracted by this water stain on my ceiling. It's seriously shaped like a mermaid.

**KairiMarie: **Really? Weird!

**Chickenwingz: **Yeah, I'll show you someday.

Kairi's heart leapt into her throat. This guy intended on meeting her? And hanging out with her in person? And showing her his bedroom?

It was too much to handle. She didn't understand how she could crush this hard on someone she just met 8 hours ago and didn't even know that well.

**KairiMarie: **How very forward of you.

**Chickenwingz:** Ugh, sorry. Did I offend you?

**KairiMarie: **No

**Chickenwingz: **In that case, could I be a little more forward?

**KairiMarie: **Sure

**Chickenwingz: **Can I have your phone number?

That was it. Kairi jumped out of her chair and did a happy dance around her room. He was really interested in her, and for once, she was interested too. And it felt wonderful. She sat back down and typed out her phone number, taking a deep breath before she hit "Send".

She had no idea what she was doing, or how this was going to work, but she decided that just once, she would just go with the flow, and let life take her where it was going to take her.

**Author's Note: **Sorry if that was boring for a first chapter, but it's hard to make talking over a computer sound interesting. :D I'm already working on chapter 2, so bear with me, I promise it will improve.


	2. Chemistry

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything about Kingdom Hearts

**Chapter 2: Chemistry**

Kairi and Sora hit it off really well. They texted back and forth all day every day, for two weeks after the day they met. They shared details of their graduations, and talked about anything and everything they could think of. In the evenings, they got on Yahoo messenger and IMed most of the night. Occasionally they stayed up until 4 in the morning talking to each other. Sora loved to tell Kairi about the music he loved, the music he wanted to play, the dreams he had for his band. She loved to know that he was so passionate about it. She loved his sense of humor.

**Chickenwingz: **So my open house is on Saturday. It's at the park. If you wanted to, you know, drop in, my feelings wouldn't be hurt. .

**KairiMarie: **I think I have stuff to do that day but if I have time I will try.

As it turned out, she didn't have time. She was extremely disappointed. She had only been talking to Sora for two weeks, but they talked so much that she would have felt comfortable meeting him in person. In fact, she was dying to. She wondered if he was this charming in real life. Of course, the scary thought also crossed her mind that he wouldn't be, that his online personality was just a façade and he would be nothing like that in person.

It would have really helped if she had her driver's license. She had already taken the classes, but she had procrastinated getting hours in on her permit and she didn't have a car. She didn't want to ask her parents to take her to meet some boy from the internet. She knew they would never approve.

Another two weeks went by, another two weeks of torture.

On a Thursday afternoon, Kairi was walking back to her house after picking up a cherry Slurpee from the gas station a block away, when her phone buzzed with a new text from Sora.

_I'm picking up a new guitar from a guy from your side of the island tomorrow afternoon. He wants me to meet him over by your grocery store. If you're not busy, maybe we could hang out while I'm over there._

Kairi gagged on her Slurpee. This was it, her chance. She went for walks all the time and the grocery store was not too far. Her parents would never know she slipped off to meet a boy. She texted back a simple confirmation, _I'll be there_. And then she ran all the way home to get started picking out her outfit.

The next afternoon, she had finally decided to just wear her favorite jeans and a simple t-shirt. She didn't want to look like she had obviously dressed to impress. But those jeans and that shirt sure did accentuate her figure.

She braced herself, and then began her walk to the grocery store. It occurred to her that she had never met someone from the internet before. What was she supposed to look for? She knew what Sora looked like, but what if she didn't see him? She had no idea what type of car he was driving or what he was wearing. She didn't even know if he would really be there.

As the grocery store came into view, her phone buzzed.

_All done buying my guitar. When you get here find the red car with the black bumper._

Thank God, he knew what he was doing. She found the car easily enough, and approached it cautiously. What if he was a rapist?

As she got closer, the driver's door swung open, and out stepped…

A sex god.

At least, that was the first thought that crossed her mind. His pictures online did not do him justice. All of his features were more intense in person. His shirt was right. He wasn't built or overly muscular, just average, but it didn't matter. It was still sexy as hell. His jeans were on the tight side too, but not too tight, and they didn't give too much away.

_Speak._ Kairi willed him. _Let me hear that beautiful voice you must have to match everything else._

"Hi."

She melted, right there. This was so unfair. She wanted to just jump him, rip off everything he was wearing. But that would be weird on their first meeting.

"H-hi," she stammered, trying to keep herself under control.

And then he flashed his smile, damn him, perfectly white teeth. Her knees knocked together.

To try and hide her swooning, Kairi took a seat at a nearby picnic table, inviting him with a gesture of her hand to sit with her. He did just that.

"I've never done this before," Sora said hesitantly. His bright smile was replaced with a nervous grin.

"I haven't either." Kairi stifled a nervous laugh. Everything felt awkward. They talked so well over text, yet here they were sitting together, and neither of them seemed sure where to start. The physical sparks were intoxicating, though. Kairi felt as though she'd had 5 shots just looking at him.

"The weather's nice," Sora tried.

The two exchanged glances, and burst out into laughter.

"Why are we making this so awkward?" Kairi managed through her giggles. "We talk so well online!"

"I know!" Sora breathed in deeply to stifle his laughter. "I guess I was kinda worried you would turn out to be stuck up."

Kairi's mouth dropped open. "Me?" She faked offense.

"Well you know, those answers you give on that website." Sora cocked an eyebrow.

"Fair enough."

They sat in silence for a few seconds, collecting their thoughts.

"We could discuss politics," Kairi suggested. "We haven't done that yet."

Sora shot her a glance that said _Really?_ "Politics are boring. Now, controversial issues? That I can do."

"Such as?"

Sora thought for a moment before answering. "Weed."

Kairi made a face. She had never smoked weed before, never wanted to, ever. "What about it?"

"It should be legal." Sora looked at her, and noticed the look on her face. "I don't smoke! I mean, I have in the past, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. But let's face the facts, it's not harmful and if it were legalized and regulated it could help the economy."

Kairi couldn't argue with that. She was relieved to hear that Sora wasn't a big pothead, though. "I suppose you're right. I know it's not really bad for you and everything, but I'm just not interested in trying it at all."

"I don't blame you," Sora said. "It's not really that big of a deal." He paused, and decided to change the subject. "So, next week, Friday night, there's this show at a church over on my side. There's gonna be a whole bunch of bands playing. My band isn't playing, but I was wondering if you would want to check it out with me."

Kairi froze. He was asking her out on a date already! She supposed that based on all their previous conversations she shouldn't be surprised, but she just couldn't help the giddy feeling she was getting that this guy was into _her_. She never felt like she was an incredible person, she never felt all that attractive. She had medium length, auburn hair that always seemed to fall flat, and up until recently she had always been more on the skinny side, lacking curves. She figured the only thing she had going for her was she was starting to look like she had boobs and an ass, and she loved her eyes. Yet here she was, being asked out on a date by one of the hottest guys she had ever associated with. And he _liked_ her. It seemed too good to be true.

"I would love to go with you to that." She couldn't hide her smile.

"Great!" Sora couldn't hide his smile either.

They sat and chatted about everything they could think of for the next hour.

"Let me give you a ride to your house," Sora said when they decided to wrap it up for the day.

Kairi nearly told him that she lived two minutes away, but she stopped herself. Why spoil the chance for a two minute car ride with Sora?

When they pulled into her driveway, Sora turned to her and gave her that smile of his again. "I'll see you next Friday, and I'll text ya later."

"'Kay." Kairi returned the smile and slowly and reluctantly removed herself from his vehicle. She watched him drive away, and when she was confident that he could not see her in his mirrors anymore, she did her happy dance, for the thousandth time that month.


	3. The Show

**Author's Note: **I don't know how much traffic flow this story is gonna get but this message is aimed at people who review—please, when you write a review, don't be scared to criticize! Don't flame me, but if you're reading and you notice a grammar error or something that doesn't quite make sense please let me know, I don't always catch everything when I proof read. But please also let me know if there's something you really enjoyed. :3

Also, longest chapter so far! :D

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts.

**Chapter 3: The Show **

Over the next couple of days, after Kairi and Sora met up, Kairi considered that if she was going to go on a date with Sora, she was going to have to tell her parents about him. She didn't want to tell them she met him online. She wanted to be spared the lecture of how dangerous it is to meet strangers from the internet, and how she was lucky that he turned out to be who he said he was. She finally decided to tell them that she had met Sora through a mutual friend. There would be no further questions about that explanation.

"Mom," Kairi approached her mother in the kitchen. "I just wanted to let you know I have a date Friday night."

Her mother turned to her. "Really? With whom?"

"A boy named Sora. Naminé knows him, he's from the other side of the island. They were hanging out a few days ago and I went with them and met him and we hit it off. He's taking me to a concert at a church." As Kairi spouted this off, she mentally reminded herself to tell Naminé this story so it was safe if her mother mentioned it.

"I would like to meet him before he takes you anywhere," Kairi's mother said.

Well, of course she would. Kairi had never really dated anyone before. She had rarely been interested in any boys prior to Sora. As such, her parents had no idea if she was capable of making good decisions when it came to boys.

"He will be picking me up here, so you will get to meet him," Kairi assured her.

Her mother smiled at her. "Good, can't wait."

The week dragged by. Friday felt like years away. Sora and Kairi were still texting and IM'ing every chance they got, so Kairi was able to hold her patience through the days. She was expecting Sora at 5 p.m. on Friday night. The concert started at 6 p.m., so there was plenty of time for her mother to question Sora and make sure he would be a good date.

When Friday finally arrived, Kairi was ready for the date by 3:30. She sat around impatiently for the next hour and a half, and toward the final twenty minutes of that time period, she found herself peeping out the window every few minutes to see if Sora's car was coming down the street.

When the doorbell rang at 5:05, a million little butterflies swarmed Kairi's stomach and throat. She hoped she had made a good impression on Sora, and she had no idea what to expect from this date.

When she opened the door, there stood Sora in another one of his tight t-shirts and skinny jeans.

"Hey," he said with that sexy grin.

"Is that him?" Kairi's mother appeared in the room behind her. "Hi! I'm Kairi's mother, Evelyn."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Sora greeted her with the same grin he gave Kairi.

"Let's have a seat and get to know you, Sora," The motherly tone returned to Kairi's mother's voice and she led the two teens into the kitchen and instructed them to sit at the table.

Kairi was relieved that her mother stuck to basic questions, about where Sora lived and what he was doing for college, where they were going, how late they would be out. She didn't ask anything embarrassing.

Once Evelyn had a satisfactory background history for Sora, she dismissed the two. "Well, Kairi, he's lovely. I hope you two have a great time."

The car ride to the church was pretty quiet. It seemed both Sora and Kairi were nervous about being together on a date, and were trying to think of what to talk about. Fortunately, it took them only about 15 minutes to reach the church where the concert was taking place, which helped Sora find his tongue.

"So, uh, I dunno if you've ever been to one of these before—"

"I haven't." Kairi winced, hoping he wasn't thinking her rude for interrupting. She was so nervous she couldn't help it.

He didn't seem to notice. "Well, there's this thing called hardcore dancing that people do at these things."

Kairi gulped. She wasn't much of a dancer, except for in the privacy of her own bedroom with the door locked and the shades closed when no one was home. She didn't know if she could do any dancing in front of anyone at all, much less Sora.

"I just wanted to warn you because sometimes they get a little crazy and don't pay attention to their surroundings, and if a hardcore dancer smacks into someone else, it could start a mosh pit," Sora continued. "And I don't want you to get hurt, so just stick with me off to the side."

Okay, if she was nervous before, she sure as hell was now. Mosh pit? Getting hurt? What kind of crazy shenanigans was this boy planning on pulling her into? Oh well, it was too late now. She had to stick to her plan to go with the flow.

The first thing she noticed when they walked inside the church was how incredibly _loud_ it was inside. There must have been close to 100 people inside, mostly under the age of 30, if Kairi had to guess, and one of the bands was setting up on the stage and was testing the equipment. Sora tapped Kairi's shoulder and pointed to an open spot near the back corner of the room, and they waited for the band to start.

The first band wasn't all that bad, Kairi had to admit, though she wasn't used to this genre of music. She glanced around the crowd during the second song, and saw what Sora had referred to as "hardcore dancing". She decided it looked really stupid, but more power to the kids brave enough to do it in front of all those people.

After the first band finished up their set and the noise level dropped several decibels, there was another tap on her shoulder.

"Wanna get some air?" Sora asked her. She nodded.

They walked outside into the cool summer night, and went over to Sora's car.

"Whatcha think?" Sora asked.

"It's loud," Kairi admitted. "But it is also really interesting."

Sora nodded. "It takes getting used to, that loudness. I wish I had thought to bring you some ear plugs."

"It's okay." Kairi smiled shyly at him. "I'll be fine this time."

"So," Sora said. "Wanna talk about our past conquests?"

Kairi frowned. "Huh?"

"Exes."

"Oh. I don't really have any," Kairi looked down at her feet, embarrassed. Surely Sora had lots of girlfriends in his past. "There was this guy once…but that's over with. He stopped wanting to have anything to do with me."

"What an idiot," Sora said, and Kairi blushed. "I've only had one girlfriend before."

Kairi looked up at him, eyes wide. One girlfriend and he looked like _that_? What was wrong with him?

"Her name was Ariel," Sora went on. "It lasted for two months. She took me for a ride. I really liked her, so I asked her out, and she said yes…and I thought it was okay at first. She always wanted me to buy shit for her, pay for her to go places. And I was dumb enough to do that for her." He paused. "Then a school dance came around and I was really excited to take her. We went there together and she spent the whole night talking and dancing with some other dude."

"Wow," was all Kairi could manage.

"Yeah. I spent a couple more weeks with her after that before she dumped me for him, but I'm pretty sure she was seeing him the whole time anyway."

"I'm sorry." Kairi felt a little angry at this story. That _bitch_. Sora had such a good heart and was so great looking…how could anyone want to cheat on him?

"We never even kissed or hugged." Sora kicked a pebble by his foot. "But I was cool with it. I don't know why I ever even liked her. So tell me about your guy."

Kairi winced. She didn't like to talk about _him_. _He_ was the whole reason her history of boyfriends was nonexistent. His name was Riku," she finally said after a few moments. "We were best friends growing up. Inseparable. From the time I was, like, four, I wanted to marry him someday. Our parents were good friends and always joked with each other about how we would grow up and date and go to prom together and end up married."

Sora focused his eyes on her, unblinking. He was intrigued to hear a little of Kairi's personal past. Most of their conversations thus far hadn't really explored beneath the surface.

Kairi sighed. "Then he moved away, when we were thirteen. I really liked him, couldn't wait for us to get older and be together. We sent emails back and forth like, every day, for a couple of months after he moved, and we were still trying to get our parents to let us hang out even though he was living over an hour away. Over time, our emails got less frequent, and so did our phone calls. Then they stopped completely for a while, until my parents finally let me get a Facebook account when I was 15. I added him right away, and we kind of started to talk again. But then he revealed he had a girlfriend, and that hurt my feelings, even though we hadn't seen much of each other for two years. As soon as he changed his relationship status to 'single' again, about a month later, I tried to grab the opportunity to take him for myself because a school dance was coming up. He came, and everyone was talking about how good we looked together and how perfect a couple we would make. But after that night, he didn't message me again, for a really long time. My senior year, I tried again, because I never stopped liking him. And he came, and we got on so well, I thought it was really happening and he would write me the next day and confess his everlasting love for me and want me to be his girlfriend. But he didn't. He said nothing to me at all. And over the course of the next few weeks, he uploaded tons of pictures of all his other dates to all the other high school dances in the area. He just turned into a big player."

She stopped there, feeling tears pricking at her eyes. "I'm still not completely over it, but I know now that he and I would have never worked out."

"I'm so sorry," Sora said quietly. "What a fuckface."

Kairi burst out laughing. "Thanks for that, I was on the verge of crying there."

Sora grinned. "Welcome. Now, I kinda think I know the answer to this question, and please don't hit me for asking, but are you a virgin?"

Kairi hiccupped in surprise. "Well of course," she said. "Riku was the only guy I ever even considered wanting to sleep with and he never propositioned me."

"I am too," Sora said. "I mean I've had some sluts offer, but I didn't want to give it to just anyone. Besides, I'd be scared to do it, to be honest."

Kairi giggled. "Why? It wouldn't hurt for you."

Sora fiddled with his keys, not making eye contact with her. "I'd be worried about blowing up at the launch pad."

Kairi fought the urge to laugh at this confession. She didn't want to make Sora feel bad or embarrassed for sharing something personal with her. "I'm sure you would do fine."

Suddenly, the church doors opened up and people spilled out.

"Oops," Sora said. "I guess we talked away the rest of the show."

"S'alright," Kairi said. "I enjoyed talking to you much more."

They shared a smile, and then Sora unlocked his car and opened her door for her.

"It's getting late, I'll get you home so I don't piss off your mother. I think she likes me so far."

When they got back to Kairi's house, Sora walked with her to the porch. "I know this is our first time out together," he said, "but I think you should meet my mother next. She's great."

"When shall we do that?" Kairi asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"A week from today good?"

Kairi nodded. "That will be great."

Sora looked away from her for a second, and then met her gaze again with a shy smile. "How about a goodbye hug?" He asked.

Kairi smiled as wide as she could manage and went in for the hug. It was only slightly awkward. They were both careful not to get too close to one another.

"I'll talk to you later," Sora called to her after he walked to his car.

Kairi watched him go, and when he left, she peeled her thin sweater off and smelled it. Sure enough, some of his modestly-applied-but-still-noticeable cologne had stuck to it.

She was going to sleep _good _tonight.


	4. Blossoming

**Disclaimer: **do not own, yada yada

**Chapter 4: Blossoming**

Kairi did not get to meet Sora's mother the following Friday, as planned. Her parents spoke with her grandparents, and decided that week happened to be a good week for Kairi to go spend with her grandparents, as she hadn't seen them in several months. Not that this was a bad thing, Kairi loved her grandparents, and they had lakefront property on a gorgeous lake. It was a great summer vacation spot. However, she was dying to spend more time with Sora. Sure, texting him all day, every day was great, but in person, he was even more wonderful, and she was infatuated. Spending the week with her grandparents meant _two_ weeks before she would be able to see him again, and that was a long time, dammit.

Sora promised her they would get together and hang out the weekend after she got home, and she knew she'd be counting down the hours.

Her first night with her grandparents, she admittedly said goodnight to them a lot earlier than she would have in the past, and hurried up to the guest room, where she could give Sora all of her attention and not have anyone paying attention to her reactions to his text messages.

_What did you have for dinner?_

Kairi shook her head with a smile. If there was one question she could always count on him to ask every night, it was that one. He loved food and he seemed quite interested in the types of things she enjoyed eating.

_Beer brats_, she responded. Not her favorite thing in the world to eat normally, but for some reason everything at her grandparent's house tasted ten times better. She figured it had something to do with activities by the lake such as swimming or lounging in the sun stoking the appetite.

_Ah, so you like you a little sausage, eh?_

Kairi blushed at the obviously suggestive question. She loved it when Sora strayed away from the usual conversation and sent something flirty like that. She waited a moment, thinking of what to respond with. She was new at flirting, and she was very shy and afraid of scaring Sora off if she said something lame. On the other hand, she figured if there was a time to step out of her comfort zone, it was now, while he was interested. She began to type.

_I only go for the biggest sausages._

She pushed "Send", and squeezed her eyes shut, nervous about what he would send back.

Ten minutes went by, and there was no response from Sora. She began to panic a little. She should have known better, they had only known each other two months and had only hung out twice. She was too bold, and now he was creeped out and wasn't going to answer her.

At the fifteen minute mark, her phone buzzed.

_Oh, you don't have to worry about that with me ;)_

Was he really suggesting what she thought he was suggesting? She had no experience with the world of penis, at all. She had never even considered anything about size, and it certainly had never crossed her mind thus far with Sora. Yet here he was, practically bragging. Naturally, he could be lying, but she would have to see it to find out. Oh God, what was she getting into? This was way too much to handle. The idea of sexual relationships was foreign to her. What if he expected her to sleep with him? She didn't know if she would ever be ready for that step, although she certainly wanted to be. Too nervous to send anything sexy back, she chose to change the subject.

_It's really great here. I'm gonna go fishing tomorrow, I hope I catch enough to cook._

Sora replied back with words of encouragement, seemingly not even missing a beat. Kairi was relieved he didn't try to bring it back up. She wasn't sure exactly how far he would have taken that conversation if she had allowed it, but it scared her that she was disappointed in herself for not finding out.

The rest of the week, and the next, went by without another attempt at dirty flirting from Sora. Kairi hoped that she hadn't caused him too much embarrassment by blatantly ignoring his come-on.

Finally, Friday came. Kairi was nervous about meeting Sora's mother. What if she hated her? Boys cared about their mothers' opinions. If Sora's mother didn't like Kairi and made it clear to Sora, he would probably drop her on the spot no matter what.

Sora spent the whole car ride to his house talking about how much he was sure Kairi and his mother would love each other, but she was still nervous.

As soon as he opened the front door, she was right there, in the doorway, ready to intercept the pair. "Hello!" She said enthusiastically.

She looked young for her age, Kairi noticed. She was a very pretty woman, with light blonde hair and hazel eyes. No wonder Sora was so handsome. A woman this good looking couldn't possibly give birth to an ugly child, no matter who the father was. "Sora's daddy isn't home tonight so you won't get to meet him, but I'm Heidi. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Kairi said shyly.

"How long have you been seeing my son?" Heidi asked, and as she did so she pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and gestured for Sora and Kairi to follow her to the back of the house, where she led them to a basement breezeway that clearly had been set up into a smoking room.

"O-oh, we're friends," Kairi stammered. "We're not-"

"If you say so," Heidi said, and took a big puff of her cigarette.

"Did you take Dad his lunch yet?" Sora asked his mother.

"I did," Heidi responded in a cold tone. "I picked him up some burgers and dropped them off. Didn't sit with him tonight."

Sora was quiet for a moment, and Kairi felt awkward. She was just meeting this woman, and Sora had brought up a clearly touchy subject. She already knew his parents didn't have an ace relationship based on what he had told her during their online chats, but it was weird to see it in person so soon.

"Was he pissed?" Sora asked finally.

"Of course he was pissed!" Heidi said loudly. "When isn't he pissed? He's a big fuckin' crybaby!"

Oh. So that was where Sora got his mouth from.

"Okay Mom," Sora sighed. "You need chill out, don't scare Kairi. We're gonna go watch some TV."

Heidi looked at Kairi. "I'm sorry, honey," she said. "I'm having issues with his dad so I'm not very nice to be around right now."

"I understand," Kairi said. "I'm a child of divorce. I stay with my mother mostly, my dad and I don't speak right now because we had a falling out."

Heidi looked at her sympathetically. "It gets better." She lit another cigarette. "I'm a Catholic, though. I don't believe in divorce. I said 'til death do us part, and that's how it's going to have to be, godammit."

Kairi wasn't sure how to respond to that, but thankfully, Sora pushed her back out into the main part of the house before she had a chance to think of something.

"My dad has been kind of a douche lately," Sora mumbled. "I'm sorry, I didn't know they would be fighting tonight. I figured since he was at work it would all be good, but they must have fought when she went to take him lunch."

"I know you said things were bad between them, but I never thought…" Kairi trailed off. Her parents had awful fights the months before they finalized their divorce and her mother moved out of her dad's house.

"They never used to be, really," Sora said as he reached for the TV remote. "He cheated."

Kairi's eyes widened. "Oh my God." She couldn't imagine that kind of betrayal.

"My mom just found out about the affair the day of my open house," Sora continued, flipping through the channels.

Kairi's mouth dropped open. "How _awful_!"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, still trying to figure out why he decided that was a good time to confess." He shrugged. "I dunno, I'm really disappointed in him. He's been my dad for 14 years, a huge role model for me. I expected better from him."

Wait…fourteen years? Sora was eighteen. That must mean…

"Oh yeah, forgot to share that," Sora said, noticing Kairi's confused look. "He's not my real dad, he adopted me when I was four. My real dad is a piece of shit that I haven't spoken to in years."

Kairi felt her eyes get misty. Sora had a few rough things going for him. He really deserved a break, being the great guy that he was.

"Well," Sora shifted on the couch and unmuted the TV. "Let's add some fun to this dreary evening." Kairi couldn't agree more.

They ended their evening at about 10:30, but naturally they resumed their chatting once Sora arrived back home from dropping Kairi off.

At around midnight, Sora disappeared from IM for nearly half an hour. Kairi was about to assume he had fallen asleep, when he returned.

**Chickenwingz: **They're fighting again…

**KairiMarie: **I'm sorry

**Chickenwingz: **My dad came home late, kind of drunk. My mom is flipping out.

Kairi wasn't sure what to say. She had a lot of support when she was going through her parents' divorce, but it felt strange to be the one giving it, especially when she knew Sora's mother had no intention of leaving his father. He was going to have to live around this hostility until he moved out, and it was going to be very tough for him.

**Chickenwingz: **Come over Sunday for dinner? My mom wanted me to ask you.

And there was the giddy feeling again. This would be the first time Kairi and Sora hung out more than one time in one week. And if his mother told him to ask her to Sunday dinner, that meant she didn't have to worry about whether she liked her. Mothers didn't invite girls they hated to Sunday dinner.

Sora's mother was marinating steaks when Kairi and Sora got to Sora's house on Sunday evening. She would lay a steak out on a cutting board, pound it to death with a meat mallet, and dunk it in her bowl of marinade. She seemed to be enjoying herself quite a bit. Kairi guessed it was a way for her to relieve stress. She knew Sora's dad was home today, and was nervous about how this would turn out.

"Sora," Heidi said in a sing-song voice. "Look, I'm beating my meat! Beatin' the meat!"

Sora looked horrified. "God, Mom, _stop_ saying that."

"What, you don't like to beat meat?" Heidi looked at Sora and cracked up, snorting as she laughed.

"She's inappropriate sometimes, ignore her," Sora said to Kairi, his face beet red.

Kairi was laughing though. It was good to see Heidi in a better mood. Maybe tonight wouldn't be too bad.

"Chris!" Heidi hollered at the top of her lungs. "Light the grill for me please!"

There was a grunt from the living room, and a beefy guy with dark brown hair shuffled in. Kairi found herself trying to find the resemblance between Sora and his dad when she remembered the revelation that they were not blood-related. Chris, as he apparently was called, did not look to be in a pleasant mood. He barely acknowledged Kairi on his way through the kitchen to the back patio.

Sora sensed her uneasiness and reassured her. "Don't worry, everything will be cool."

Everything was cool, until dinner was finished. Heidi asked Chris to put away dinner while she did dishes, and he muttered something no one could hear under his breath. This set Heidi off and suddenly the house was filled with her foul-mouthed yelling.

Chris did not take this silently though, and after a few minutes of listening to her, he started spouting back.

Kairi sat rigid on the couch in the living room as multiple uses of "motherfucker", "cocksucker", and "bitch" echoed around the house.

Sora came down the stairs from where he had been using the bathroom looking infuriated. "Let's go," he said, and led Kairi out to the car.

This was disappointing. She had been hoping for an evening of TV watching, trying to talk herself all day into being brave enough to move in for a cuddle this time. Now Sora was cutting the date off early because of his stupid parents.

He was quiet the whole way to her house. She knew he was upset, but she wished that it weren't affecting his wanting to talk to her.

When he pulled his car up in front of her house, she opened the door and let herself out, expecting that Sora would probably just want to take off.

"Kairi," Sora sighed, and turned off the car. He got out and followed her to her porch. "I'm really sorry that happened, I should have known they couldn't keep it stashed away until after you left. And I'm sorry it ruined my mood."

Kairi swallowed hard. "It's okay," she said, even though it really wasn't.

"I hate that I can't even have you over for Sunday dinner without shit hitting the fan," Sora said in a frustrated tone. "It's really embarrassing and I don't want you to hit the road because of it. I really like being around you and I would like to be more often. I mean, I dunno if you really get where I'm going with this."

Kairi perked up. Was this it? The question she had been wondering if and when she would hear?

"Kairi," Sora said shakily, "no other girl has ever made me feel the way you do. I feel like we are so in sync all of the time, we have so much in common. Spending time with you is a real highlight in my day. Will you…will you be my girlfriend?"

It was the words.

"Yeah!" Kairi said, a little too eagerly she thought. What happened now? Would they kiss?

No such luck. Sora apparently used up all his bravery just asking her out, because he choked out a "great," and then opened his car door back up. "I better make sure my parents haven't killed each other," he told her grimly. "I'll text you and we will make our next plans."

Kairi couldn't wait to get this thing started.


	5. Kiss The Girl

**Author's Note: **I know it's been a month since I updated, and I apologize to the followers. I'm a busy, busy girl.

**Disclaimer: **Do I really need to reassure you all I don't own these characters?

**Chapter 5: Kiss the Girl**

Kairi and Sora were both new at relationships. The first couple of weeks after Sora had taken the plunge and asked Kairi to be his girlfriend, everything they had been doing previously remained the same, except for they were now "Facebook official".

Kairi was dying to have her first kiss with Sora. She had only kissed two other guys, and she hadn't enjoyed herself very much. She could see herself kissing Sora's beautiful mouth all day long, though. She was wondering why Sora hadn't made the move yet. Maybe he wasn't ready? Maybe to him a kiss was a giant step and he needed more time. Or maybe it had something to do with their last several hang out sessions taking place at his house with his mother home. Maybe he didn't want to kiss her around his mother.

But tonight they were going to hang out near Kairi's house and take a nice walk around town. It would be a perfect chance.

The two were sitting on a bench in the park around the block from Kairi's house. It was getting dark, and they had spent the past two hours talking about everything they could think of. The last of the parents and children that had been playing in the park had just left. All Kairi could think was how this would be great timing for Sora to just grab her and kiss her with everything he had.

They were sharing a brief period of silence while they both thought of what to talk about next, when Sora turned to her and asked, "What would you say if someone asked you if they could kiss you?"

There was clearly a motive here, but Kairi was nervous. She didn't like the idea of being asked if he could kiss her. She wanted it to just happen.

"I would say no," she said after a moment, "but only because it would make me nervous to be asked. I want my kisses to be spontaneous. If I was asked first it would put pressure on me."

"I see," Sora said. Kairi couldn't see his face in the dark but his tone sounded flat. Clearly she had just foiled his plan to kiss her and she wanted to kick herself. What if he had been planning this for a long time and now she wouldn't get her kiss because he needed to come up with a new plan?

They sat there for a few more minutes before he stood. "It's getting late, we should start walking back."

The conversation returned to normal as they took the 20 minute walk slowly to savor their time together. It was after 10 p.m., and despite the fact that Sora was 18, his mother had a habit of blowing up his phone to find out when he would be home if he didn't call her to tell her he was coming home by 11. After the initial phone call, she would text Sora every ten minutes to find out if he had left Kairi's yet. Kairi assumed this was her not-so-subtle way of stopping the two from having sex.

_She's wasting her time_, Kairi thought, somewhat bitterly. _Haven't even kissed yet._

It seemed too soon that they reached Kairi's front porch. Kairi headed for the door, assuming Sora was ready to bid her goodnight, but instead of following her to the door, he hung back by the porch steps. She turned away from the door, waiting to see if he was just going to remain there. They usually always parted ways with a hug.

She hesitated for a few seconds before she began to take baby steps back toward him. If he wasn't going to make the move, she figured she should do something about it.

Sora sighed. "I know you said you didn't want anyone to ask, but…Kairi, can I kiss you?"

Kairi stopped dead and froze. _Ass!_ She screamed inside her head. She had been correct when she answered the question earlier. He asked and every nerve in her body was suddenly weak, every ounce of willpower she had just gathered to go and kiss him herself vanished and she felt very helpless and very nervous. She couldn't even open her mouth to answer the question. She turned away from Sora, her face aflame. _What the HELL_ _is wrong with me?_ _Just say "yes", and get that kiss!_

It was a repeat of when Sora had asked her to be his girlfriend. She hated being so shy.

She turned back around, and was immediately startled, because sometime during her heated internal arguments, he had walked toward her and was standing right next to her.

The temperature of her face rose, and she was thankful it was dark out so he couldn't see how furiously she was blushing. "I told you I didn't want to be asked, I don't know how I'm supposed to do this now!" She hated to admit her embarrassment, but she didn't want Sora to think she didn't want to kiss him. She did, badly.

"Let's just do this," Sora said, and lowered his face toward her.

Kairi panicked and backed away. She realized what she had done immediately. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

Sora groaned. "You're making me nervous now."

"Sorry…let's try again." Kairi wet her lips. Maybe if she closed her eyes and couldn't see him coming she would be okay. But what if he didn't close his eyes? She didn't want to look stupid.

She waited, and Sora leaned toward her again. Before he reached her, he stopped, and straightened up. "I, um…" he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples. "I just can't now, I feel like a giant dork. I'm sorry."

Kairi's heart sank. She ruined everything. She let her nervousness get in the way, made Sora nervous, and now she definitely wasn't going to get her kiss tonight.

"It's okay," she said. "We just both panicked. Hopefully it will go over smoother next time."

Sora wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her. "I should get going before Mom starts calling. Are we hitting the county fair this weekend?"

"Yes!" Kairi's nerves started to settle. "I can't wait."

"I'll text you when I get home." Sora flashed her that sexy smile, and headed for his car.

The last thing Kairi thought to herself that night before she fell asleep was that no matter what, she was going to have her kiss with Sora the next time she saw him.

The only flaw with Kairi's plan was she had no idea when she was going to execute it. She didn't want to maul Sora right away, but she was afraid if she waited until the end of the night the same disastrous thing would happen.

When Sora showed up to pick her up for the fair, her jaw nearly dropped. He looked hot. He was wearing a v-neck t-shirt that hugged his body and his jeans left little to the imagination. Kairi had never been attracted to a guy in skinny jeans until Sora. He could just pull it off in ways that other guys couldn't. Perhaps it was because he actually had an ass and muscular legs. Normally any guy she saw wearing skinny jeans had a toothpick body.

_Self control, Kairi_, Kairi thought to herself. If she leaped on him and kissed him now it could make the whole evening awkward. But all she really wanted to do was drag him to her bedroom and trace those muscles she could make out through his clothes with her tongue.

She blushed. Shame on her for thinking such dirty thoughts.

"Ready to go?" Sora opened the passenger side door of his car and gestured toward it.

Kairi put on her sweetest smile, trying to mask the fact that she had been mentally undressing him moments before. "Of course!"

The fair wasn't really anything to hoot and holler over. Not that Kairi expected it to be, she had been going to this fair every year all her life. Every year before this she went with her family and rode each ride several times, checked out the farm animals, and made sure to buy an elephant ear. This year, she couldn't care less about those things. She had Sora with her, and she just wanted to spend time with him. This was also the first time she and Sora had really done anything in public since they had become a couple. Sitting at home watching television was so comfortable. She wanted all the other girls at the fair to be jealous that she was with the hottest guy there.

To her pleasure, they were. Tons of girls that Kairi guessed went to Sora's high school stopped him to say hello. All of them wanted to know who Kairi was. She was overjoyed when Sora introduced her to each one with, "This is my girlfriend, Kairi." He left no room for her to be interpreted as anything less.

After Kairi and Sora made their way through the barns and checked out all the fair animals, she came up with an idea. It would be incredibly romantic if she and Sora had their first kiss at the top of the ferris wheel.

She turned to him. "Let's go on the ferris wheel."

Sora wrinkled his nose. "But those are so lame. I hate county fair rides. They're shit compared to amusement park rides. Waste of money."

Kairi was disappointed. She didn't want to press the issue, though. "I suppose we could head back then," she answered dryly. She just wanted the opportunity to make her move on him, and this area that reeked of horse poop was not it.

When they pulled back into Kairi's driveway, she found herself a little miffed by Sora's refusal to go on the ferris wheel. Great, how was she supposed to make this kiss happen if she was annoyed with him? It wouldn't be the same. She flung open her door as he put the car into park and started toward the porch. Before she got there, she felt a strong, warm hand envelope her own. She stopped abruptly, as did her heart. She realized at that moment that she and Sora had never held hands before. It felt really nice, and her irritation evaporated completely.

"Why didn't we do this at the fair?" Sora asked, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"That's a good question," Kairi giggled. "It would have made the night so much more fun."

Sora reeled her in toward him and before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers. The kiss only lasted a couple seconds, but it was still every bit as wonderful as she hoped it would be.

"Goodnight, Kairi," Sora said, smiling shyly.

"Goodnight Sora."

Kairi watched him pull out of the driveway, the feeling of his mouth on hers still lingering there. When she could no longer see his taillights, she raced inside her house, squealing to herself excitedly as she whipped out her cellphone to text Naminé that it had finally happened.


End file.
